Fumisen, Tenku Bakudanyaki, Shoryumen

Today, we are going to visit a food place that is located outdoors in the open. It’s a collection of 3 different Japanese cuisines. Fumisen serving Sushi cones, Tenku serving Bakudanyaki (a Japanese style savoury fritter, topped with an assortment of sauces and seasonings), and Shoryumen serving ramen.

Photo credit: Edison Yu

Location/Hours:

They are all located next to each other. This is their newest location: 8740 Charles Street, in Richmond, BC. This is behind Costco and right next to the Bridgeport Skytrain Station. Very easily accessible even if you do not have a car. Their WINTER HOURS are from noon-8pm, weather dependant.

My girlfriend and I visited this place by the recommendation of her sister. And we visited this place on a rather cloudy October day, but they were still open. This is our first time here, so we decided to eat less adventurist. (Sorry, I didn’t have my camera with me today. So, I had to use my BlackBerry.)

Fumisen – $5

I’ve noticed that they went up in prices from other blogs that I’ve been reading. But anyhow, the food is still very fresh from something made out of a trailer. This sushi wrap is “Seaweed wrapped in Salmon rice with Tuna Sashimi and Sweet Tomago over Mayo”. It was D-licious. The fun thing about Fumisen is that you get to choose everything from the wrap, to the rice, to the ingredients, and even the sauce. It’s almost like Subway, Japanese style. There are 3 sizes for you to choose from: SNACK, NORMAL, and X-tra LARGE.

Tenku Bakudanyaki – $5

At first, we thought this was like one of those squid balls you get from Japanese style cuisines. But, it wasn’t really. It was more like this giant potato ball but still have squid inside. This was the “Original” kind with mayo on top. Inside this ball, it’s beef, bacon, potato, leek, cheese, whole quail egg, carrots, onions, and spinach. All in one ball! I really liked it cause I’m a major potato head. (Update: they actually changed it to be this warm potato stuffing JUST FOR THE WINTER!)

Shoryumen – $8.50

I forgot what this one was called because it was from their special menu. It’s got minced pork inside with a chicken broth (I believe). And as with all Japanese ramen places, the egg yolk is not entirely cooked. The soup was a little spicy but very clear broth. $8.50 for a ramen, would you pay for it?

Overall, the experience was pretty good. The food was more than what I expected from 3 trailer trucks, ingredients were very fresh and no “unexpected substances” in the food. The service was very friendly. Well, the only service you get is probably when you order and even then the service was good. Value for the food was alright, I paid about $20 for all the food above which is probably more expensive than a typical lunch. Oh, and this place is CASH ONLY (along with most Richmond places), however, the prices includes taxes. Ambiance, there wasn’t much. You are inside a big empty lot with picnic tables in front of the trailers on rocky ground. The view is in front of a skytrain station.